by Anna Mitterhauser -

Theories of Deceptive Design Patterns

The foundation for the starting point of the work is the “Dark patterns Taxonomy”, developed by Harry Brignull, which provides a detailed classification of different types. (Brignull, 2011) Additionally, there are several explanatory approaches or theories that have been proposed to explain the use of dark patterns in user interface design. One theory is that dark patterns are the result of a conflict between the interests of the designers, who are often motivated by profit or other commercial goals, and the interests of the users, who may not be aware of the manipulation. This theory suggests that designers use dark patterns because they are more effective at achieving their goals than other, more transparent methods of persuasion. (Fogg, 2003, p. 16)

Another theory is that dark patterns are the result of a lack of ethical awareness or consideration on the part of designers. This theory suggests that designers may not be intentionally trying to deceive or manipulate users, but rather they may be unaware of the potential negative consequences of their design choices.

There has been much debate in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) about the ethical implications of dark patterns and the role of designers in promoting or preventing their use. Some HCI researchers argue that designers have a responsibility to consider the ethical implications of their work, and to design interfaces that respect the autonomy and well-being of users. (Harris & Light, 2012, p. 51) Others argue that it is not the role of designers to dictate user behavior, and that users should be empowered to make their own decisions about how to interact with technology.

There are several principles that have been proposed to guide the ethical design of user interfaces, including transparency, fairness, choice, and respect for user autonomy. These principles can help designers to create interfaces that are more transparent and less manipulative, and that give users more control over their interactions with technology.

Persuasion is the act of influencing someone’s beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors through communication. It is a common goal of marketing and advertising and is often achieved by various techniques such as appeals to emotion, appeals to authority, and framing. In the context of dark patterns, persuasion is used to manipulate users into performing actions that they might not otherwise perform and is often achieved through deceptive or manipulative techniques. (Hassenzahl & Tractinsky, 2006, p. 92)

Sources:

Brignull, Harry. ‘Dark Patterns: Deception vs. Honesty in UI Design’. A List Apart (blog), 1 November 2011. http://alistapart.com/article/dark-patterns-deception-vs.-honesty-in-ui-design/.

Fogg, B. J. ‘Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do’. Ubiquity 2002, no. December (December 2002): 2. https://doi.org/10.1145/764008.763957.

Harris, J, and B Light. 2012. “Ethical Design and the Responsibility of HCI.” Interactions 19 (5): 50-53.

Hassenzahl, M, and N Tractinsky. 2006. “User Experience – A Research Agenda.” Behaviour & Information Technology 25 (2): 91-97.

by Anna Mitterhauser -

Deceptive Design Patterns – State of Research

As a designer, it is important to be aware of the potential for deceptive design patterns and to avoid using them in your own work. As UX designer Harry Brignull explains, “dark patterns are interfaces that are designed to trick people into doing things they might not otherwise do” (Brignull, 2010).

Furthermore, using dark patterns can have serious negative consequences for users. These design techniques are often designed to trick users into taking actions that they might not otherwise have taken, such as signing up for a subscription or making a purchase. This can lead to situations where users feel deceived or frustrated, which can damage their overall experience of the product or service (Nunes et al., 2018).

On a broader level, the use of dark patterns can also contribute to a culture of mistrust and skepticism among users. As more and more products and services employ these manipulative design techniques, users may become increasingly wary of interacting with digital products and services (Cheshire & Fox, 2014).

Research on deceptive design patterns is ongoing, and there is currently no consensus on the best ways to avoid them. However, some sources recommend following ethical design principles and considering the potential consequences of your designs on users. For example, the Nielsen Norman Group, a user experience consulting firm, offers professional insights and some principles on how to avoid deceptive design patterns, such as being transparent about the goals of your design, avoiding manipulations that could harm users, and giving users control over their own actions. (NNGroup, 2021)

My own work will build on this and add up on not only understanding what makes deceptive design patterns unethical or how to avoid them, but also on how they can easily be reversed and turned back into user-friendly designs.

Sources:

Brignull, H. (2010). Dark patterns: 10 examples of online trickery. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jun/18/dark-patterns-examples-online-trickery

Cheshire, C., & Fox, S. (2014). The dark side of user-centered design. Communications of the ACM, 57(7), 24-26.

NNGroup. “The Role of Design Ethics in UX”. July 2, 2021. Conference Recording, 4:24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cySX_CmFGcc

Nunes, J., Cunha, J., Verissimo, P., & Lopes, J. (2018). Dark patterns: A dark side of user experience design. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-14). ACM.

by Kerstin Slany -

Volta & the world of data visualisation.

Are you tired of estimating your energy consumption and not being able to track it in real-time? Then this blog post is for you. My master thesis VOLTA – the smart energy application will innovate the way you monitor your energy usage. VOLTA visually represents your real-time energy consumption, making it easier for you to understand and control your energy usage. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the research I’m currently in, the features and benefits of interactive data visualisation and how the thesis and especially the project Volta can help you become more energy efficient. Let’s go.

Why do I want to research in this topic?

Smart energy applications that visualise your own consumption behaviour can be incredibly useful for helping you better understand your energy use and identify opportunities to save money and help you to live more sustainable. By providing a clear and intuitive visual representation of your energy consumption, Volta can make it easier to track your progress and stay motivated to reduce your energy consumption.

What’s this all about?

In this blog post I want to kick-off my research with the topic of data visualisation, to share the insights I’ve already gained and to provide a starting point for discussion. So, let’s dive into the topic and get inspired.


Hello World of Data. The aim of data visualisation is to communicate information clearly and effectively through visuals. There are several different visualisation options that can be used to display your energy consumption data, and the best option will depend on your personal preferences and the goals you have for reducing your energy use. The visualisation is mostly done in geometries, which can be divided into different categories: they show quantities or comparisons, relationships or proportions or distributions, as well as compositions. In addition, data sets can be visualised in different ways, but say the same thing.

Some common visualisation options include:

  • bar plot
  • heatmaps
  • traditional pie chart
  • stacked density plots, mosaic plots, and treemaps
  • box plot
  • the histogram
  • Violin plots and density plots
  • popular scatterplot
  • line geometries

Representing data graphically in the form of graphs, charts, and maps helps users quickly spot trends and assess the status of KPIs. Allowing direct interaction helps users dig deeper to identify patterns and find new relationships in their data. ¹

But ultimately, interactive data visualisation helps turn raw data into business insights and value for the users. Interactive data visualisation leads to better decision making, data accessibility, and user engagement. It boosts collaboration and knowledge sharing, user trust in data, frequent data engagement, and higher satisfaction with analytical tools. The modules of Data Visualisation are: Visual Literacy, Visual Analysis, Visualisations for Business (including Dashboard, Scorecard, Analytic Reports, Analysis), and Visualisations of Tomorrow. 2

With our understanding of interactive data visualisation established, let’s now discuss the benefits it offers:

The benefits of using interactive data visualisation include quicker decision-making due to the brain processing visual information faster than text, easier identification of correlations and connections, ability to spot emerging trends, and opportunities for fresh discussions and insights by telling a story with data. This method of presenting data can lead to better insights, improved business performance, and increase brand awareness by engaging the target audience. 3

What are the features of an interactive dashboard?

Interactive dashboards have features such as quick filters, drill down, chart zoom, hide cells and widgets. Quick filters allow users to easily change data without altering the dashboard for others. Drill down lets users see deeper layers of data. Chart zoom allows zooming in on a specific section of a chart to see detailed data. Hide cells lets users view only selected data. Widgets allow integrations between business intelligence software and other business software to import data automatically.4

By considering these criteria and choosing the right visualisation options regarding the user’s needs, Volta is a smart energy application that is both effective and enjoyable to use. Whether you are looking to save money on your energy bills or simply reduce your environmental impact, Volta will serve a well-structured dashboard screen with an interactive experience as a powerful tool to help you keep track & manage your energy consumption.

Should you have any inquiries or are keen on the subject, I welcome any questions or input on the topic and look forward to engaging in discussions with you.

Sources:

(1) Stephen R. Midway: Principles of Effective Data Visualization. In: Patterns: Perspective, 1,9 (2020), doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2020.100141

(2) Jagreet Kaur: Data Visualization: Real-Time Streaming Data Visualization| Advanced Guide, In www.xenonstack.com/blog/streaming-data-visualizations (zuletzt aufgerufen am: 31.01.2022)

(3) Bernardita Calzon: Take Advantage Of The Best Interactive & Effective Data Visualization Examples, In: The datapine Blog: Data Visualization, (2022), www.datapine.com/blog/best-data-visualizations/#benefits (zuletzt aufgerufen am: 31.01.2022)

(4) Andrew Conrad: What Is an Interactive Dashboard?, In: GetApp, Blog & research, (2022), www.getapp.com/resources/what-is-interactive-dashboard/ (zuletzt aufgerufen am: 31.01.2022)

by Marlene Dirnberger -

#8 – Critical Evaluation of a Master’s Thesis

Evaluate critically a master’s thesis/diploma thesis from your own research area submitted to a foreign or Austrian university/university of applied sciences (no thesis written at FH JOANNEUM).

Chosen Thesis:

Design in the Anthropocene, Broadening Human-Centred Design by Shreya Sood Aalto University

Level of design:

The design of this Master Thesis comply with the general rules of a Master Thesis, where no “design layout” is required or even accepted. In these cases there are sometimes two versions, the official and the designed one, however I could not find another (designed) work within my research. The thesis was written in a serif font for the continuous text as well as for headlines. In my perspective a variation would have been nice, however, it seems like it was restricted to a certain design layout.

Degree of innovation:

Regarding the degree of innovation it can be said, that the topic illustrated in the thesis is very contemporary and future oriented, and thus has a high degree of innovation, as it focus on the improvement of an actual improvement process (how and if people become more sustainable through design, in particular when following the Human Centered Design approach that is well known and accepted). Additionally the starting point was a self study, or reflection on the person’s own process of three projects that were developed during the study year 2020 and its outcomes, followed up by interviews of peers who experienced the same projects. Before this thesis I never came across an applicable example where Auto-ethnography was used as a qualitative research method, which makes it even more innovative speaking for my own experiences, which is of course not comparable to everyone’s.

Independence:

A big plus for the independency criteria is already the chosen method of self study and faking it I actually picture very difficult. The amount of references added in the bibliography and some spot checks I did, additionally resulted in a high quality of rephrasing and citation.

Outline and structure:

The front page as well as the title page are included and on the correct spot within the thesis. Besides these elements, also the structure is clear and in order. The abstract is before the table of content and is not listed within it. It is only written in English, so the native language (Finnish) is perhaps missing. The table of content gives a clear overview, is numbered, but not linked to the dedicated chapters. After the introduction the topic is introduced, next chapter incorporates the theoretical background, followed by detailed insights in the methodology and findings that can be deduced from this mapped to the Research Questions. Within the next chapter the discussion happens and the content part closes regularly with the discussion. In the end of the structure the list of references and appendix is placed.

The naming of the chapters is very straight forward, sometimes for my personal taste a little to general. Positively to mention is that the graphics within the work show the same illustration style and thus are consistent and standardized.

Degree of communication:

The work was written at the Finnish university Aalto, Helsinki within the program Creative Sustainability. The written language is English, of the level B2 and at some points on the edge to C1, however the writing style is still comprehensible and not too complex in the length of the sentences for example. The content was drew up objectively, but within the introduction where the personal approach for the self study was stated out, the reader could still sympathize with the author on a personal level.

Scope of the work:

In total the thesis encompasses 85 pages, 71 for the actual content (from introduction to end of conclusion). It has a similar scope to the requirements of the Master Thesis we will write. Additionally the pages between the chapters are pro rata balanced.

Orthography and accuracy:

I could not find typos or sloppy mistakes when reading through it, so from my point of view it is of high quality also in this area. However as I am not an English native speaker I would not completely rely on this estimation.

Literature:

Five pages are dedicated only to the list of references. I would estimate the quantity of resources reasonable to the scope of the thesis. The list consists to approximately one half of scientific papers / articles , one third of internet resources, whereas the rest are books. It has a great variety and the resource spot check was promising in terms of quality too.

by Marton Szabo-Kass -

Evaluation of a master thesis: Creating Appropriate Trust for Autonomous Vehicles

| Personal evaluation of a Master Thesis submitted to a foreign University, that is dealing with topics in our own research field 

I chose the master thesis by Fredrick Ekman and Mikael Johansson with the title: “Creating Appropriate Trust for Autonomous Vehicles – A framework for HMI design”, as the topic has many overlaps to my research field and intended thesis topic. 

The level of design and first feeling of this thesis is positive. The cover looks attractive, the length of 76 pages (101 in total) and a structure with 9 main chapters gives a solid first impression. A basic point that I can only criticize is the formatting of the text in two columns, which made the reading and navigation through the content difficult.  

The chapters separate the phases of the work in the overview of backgrounds, literature and methodology and practical user testing. Afterwards the framework, the concept development and the validation are documented. It is completed by an example concept and the discussion of the results, including future perspectives. The outline and structure are done well, but still it is not very easy to find specific parts of the methods, unless you studied the structure thoroughly beforehand. 

The introductory part gives a fair overview of the autonomous driving context and the aims and limitations of the work. The thesis states to be limited to the scope of Level 3 automation, which is understandable, as further derivations could be made for Level 4 scenarios. 

I would assess the scope of the work as sufficient. The literature analysis excessively describes the topic of trust, showing a solid understanding of the main and most important aspects of human trust in automation and in autonomous driving. Afterwards it discusses the relevant aspects to build the framework and validates main points. 

Regarding independence and innovation, the authors worked with scientific methods throughout the whole research process of the literature and user testing.  

The user testing was carried out in an interesting way lacking a fully automated vehicle, with a simulation setup using a right-hand drive vehicle to give the left-hand test driver the autonomous ride feeling.  

A novel graph called Optimal Life Cycle of Trust was also created to visualize the change of trust through the user journey. The framework is based on the information gathered from the research, but it sums up the necessary areas of interest regarding trust thoroughly.  

This framework is one of the main results of the thesis and can be helpful for HMI designers. It is probably not a highly innovative solution but gives a solid basis for concept development. An iterative concept development was also done with the use of this framework, that gives as further results three example concepts of new user interfaces. 

The degree of communication is clear, the explanations and concept derivations are understandable. Once the reader has understood the whole methodology and structure of the work, the explanations are comprehensible. 

Regarding orthography and accuracy, the texts were written in an understandable yet scientific form. Abbreviations were explained beforehand, and no grammatical mistakes were found. 

The bibliography is not formatted in the most readable way and misses some source details at a few points, but in general it is thorough and excessive, including many books as well as other media, which appear to be reliable sources. 

Source: 

Ekman, Fredrick/Johansson, Mikael: Creating appropriate trust for autonomous vehicles. A framework for HMI design. Master Thesis at: Chalmers University of Technology Department of Product and Production Development, Division of Design & Human Factors, Gothenburg, Sweden (2015), 
https://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/226342/226342.pdf (last opened on 29.11.2022) 

by Max Müller -

_TASK III: Critical Evaluation of a Master’s Thesis


For my review of a Master’s Thesis, I chose the work of Mikel Elias Polzer with the title “Designing Casual Games for Subverting (Hetero-)Normative Attitudes”. I came across this work by researching with the Austria-wide online tool of the FH library.


_Level of design

There was almost no design aspect to it, other than the most basic formatting was done in terms of layout. Structure was done quite okay and there were the occasional pictures and visualisations in it, but they only served the purpose to explain certain points in the thesis. Although the choice of font and typography was done in a very safe way, where nothing can go wrong that easily – from a readability standpoint the forced full justification text is a quite difficult to enjoy whilst reading; so, there is room for improvement on this front. The use of bright red and blue on text looks in the end – mainly just off. It makes certain things look like the rough outline or something, which still needs to be discussed – for me it does not give the impression of being done when text is highlighted red.


_Degree of innovation

The thesis deals with interesting and important topics for our current century, mainly the perception of gender in games – there is only little work done on this field because it is a rather unexplored discipline. To now quantify it by just that parameter would be possible, but not justified. Therefore, I consider this thesis as an innovative piece of scientific work.


_Independence

It relies heavily on citations, but the experimental and scientific approach of this work would qualify it as a very good independent thesis.


_Outline and structure

Something which struck me a little odd was the fact that the author included a full curriculum vitae on the 4th page. It was straight after the cover and the acknowledgements before the table of contents. I guess it must be some requirement of the university where this thesis was published; yet I do not see the need of giving a detailed look at the person’s life before I read their thesis. Also, on another note, the CV was equipped with the full name, nationality, birthday, and even email address – form a data protection standpoint a problem. Otherwise, was the structure well laid out, you had enough introduction to the upcoming topics, and nothing felt out of place. The ending was merely a quote and had only little conclusion to offer, it ended all rather abruptly. At least the whole PDF was formatted as an interactive file, so you could easily use the in-file links to hop between chapters, sources, and citations.


_Degree of communication

The heavy use of parentheses makes reading and following – on top of very long constructed sentences which could use a break here and there – makes reading this thesis a little bit more challenging. It’s not your everyday easy evening read.


_Scope of the work

The work did not try to get everything under one hat, it clearly decided for one aspect and honed right into this. The author talked about the talking points they wanted and had to and then got straight into experiments which they called ‘semi- quantitative testing’ to get a grasp on the subjective perceptions of various participants.


_Orthography and accuracy

Sometimes poor wording and occasionally spelling mistakes in terms of misplacing commas into words. Besides that, I was not able to locate any graver mistakes. The only thing I would point out is the misuse of the basic hyphen “-“ instead of the classic “–“ en-dash – but that’s more of a style and typography issue which I take a bit personal, otherwise it’s alright.


_Literature

The literature consists of a huge and vast library of books from different fields, but all coming from a certified scientific aspect. There were also a lot of books which I also already came across in my research or I knew already.


_Source

Polzer, Mikel Elias: Designing Casual Games for Subverting (Hetero-)Normative Attitudes. Master’s Thesis, University Vienna, 2017. In: https://utheses.univie.ac.at/detail/42249 (zuletzt aufgerufen am 01.12.2022)

by Kerstin Slany -

Evalulierung Masterarbeit

Echtzeit. Daten. Haushalt. Die Schlagwörter für meine Masterarbeit stehen fest, jetzt ist die Frage, wie man sie gemeinsam verständlich unter einem Dach kombinieren kann.

Da der nächste Schritt die theoretische Recherche, sowie das Verstehen der technischen Umsetzung sein wird, hab ich bewusst eine Masterarbeit ausgewählt, die folgendes intensiv behandelt.

Masterarbeit von Micha Severin

“Konzeption und Realisierung einer Plattform zur Echtzeit-Netzwerkdatenanalyse” der Fakultät Technik und Informatik der Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg, aus dem Jahr 2017

Gestaltung.

Da bei dieser Arbeit das Design nicht im Vordergrund steht, beinhaltet sie keine visuelle Umsetzung, dennoch ist die Arbeit schlicht, verständlich und ordentlich aufgebaut. Auffällig ist die bewusste Hervorhebung der Quellen durch rote Schriftfarbe.

Innovationsgrad.

Der Autor beschreibt in seiner Motivation, das Unternehmensentscheidungen immer mehr auf Datenverarbeitung und -analysen basieren. In einer immer digitaler werdenden Gesellschaft finde ich, vor allem hinsichtlich des Erscheinungsjahr von 2017, ist dies eine sehr innovative Thematik.

Selbstständigkeit & Gliederung und  Struktur.

Die Arbeit beinhaltet einen Autor und ist daher selbstständig verfasst, hinsichtlich Arbeitsweise habe ich allerdings keinen Einblick in den Entstehungsprozess. Durch die Arbeit selbst, zieht sich ein ersichtlicher roter Faden, und sie ist sehr strukturiert aufgebaut. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die Zusammenfassungen am Ende eines Kapitels, in dem der Autor seine Erkenntnisse kurz wiedergibt.

Kommunikationsgrad & Umfang der Arbeit.

Die Arbeit beinhaltet 123 Seiten, das Thema, sowie die Forschungsfrage sind klar und verständlich formuliert und durch einen strukturierten Aufbau der gesamten Arbeit kann man den Forschungsweg klar nachvollziehen, wodurch die Arbeit in Kommunikation und Umfang ordentlich ausgearbeitet ist.

Orthographie sowie Sorgfalt und Genauigkeit.

Sachlich und professionelle Formulierungen, sowie die Verwendung von Fachjargon spiegeln Professionalität und Sachlichkeit wieder. Die Arbeit wurde sorgfältig gelayouted, sowie auf Rechtschreibfehler überprüft, folglich sind keine Auffälligkeiten zu finden.

Literatur.

Sechs Seiten der Arbeit sind reines Literaturverzeichnis, welches representative Quellen aus der Informatikbranche aufweisen. Die angegebenen Zitationen mit Onlinezugang, sind ebenfalls von vertrauenswürdigen und professionellen Herausgeber:innen, wodurch die Arbeit einen thematischen und hochwertigen Content aufweist.

by Laura Varhegyi -

Critical Evaluation of a master’s thesis

Designing Future-Friendly Content: Modeling production data for industrial applications by domain experts

By Diana Solkazian

Level of design

The layout was designed according to the guidelines of the FH in Salzburg, therefore it is in Times New Roman with consistent spacing and has a serious look.

Degree of innovation

The thesis is about the development of an engineering tool integrated in an international software platform from the Austrian company Copa-Data. Different methods were compared and analyzed and UCEID was used in the end. User tests and the development of high-fidelity prototypes was another part of the work.

Independence

The work is autonomous and in cooperation with Copa-Data. The author wasn’t just highlighting the progress and the results of the thesis, but also included unexpected events occurred during the usability tests. Which also gave her valuable learnings because she did remote tests for the first time. These are also little details that show that the work was developed independently.

Outline and structure

The table of content is well structured and gives a great overview over the thesis. The structure is very clear and logical, and each chapter ends with a summary. The author added a list of figures, that gives deeper insights especially to designers who want to take a quick look at the documentation of the project without the theoretical research. She used an appendix for all other relevant prototypes, the survey and the link to the figma prototype.

Degree of communication

Diana has a very accurate literary expression, and her writing style is at a very high level. This makes her work even more sophisticated. She presents a theoretical background and has a clear understanding of the topic. The author uses many references to other sources and breaks down the complexity of the work in many interesting smaller paragraphs. This makes it very easy and fascinating to read. She was very thorough, and her thesis gives a great example of the structure, terminology, and case study of a master’s thesis. She could have shown more of the product or the documentation, but this was probably not possible because of privacy reasons.

Scope of the work

The UCEID framework was the basis of her methodology. She also used a user-centered approach and the ecological interface design to develop the new interface. The results are based on user testing and a survey. Concluding there is a good variety of theoretical background and methods being used.

Orthography and accuracy

I couldn’t find any errors or misspelling in the thesis. She has a very deliberate way of expressing herself that guides the reader through her work.

Literature

When you look through the resources you see that Diana researched in detail about the different topics. There are many online sources, but also books found on google books and scientific sites. The sources are comprehensive and correctly cited. 

Solkazian, Diana: Designing Future-Friendly Content: Modeling production data for industrial applications by domain experts. Mag. -Arb. FH Salzburg. Salzburg 2021.

by Alicia Martinez Lopez -

Analysis of a Master Thesis: Gamification in Tourism – A Design Thinking Approach to Memorable Experience Design.

For this exercise, a master thesis written by Rolf Oftedal, Markus Hasler Sveen & Kristian Listou Riksheim for the school of economics and business at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences was analysed. The paper was written in 2021, so it is quite current (it mentions the pandemic) and its title is “Gamification in Tourism – A Design Thinking Approach to Memorable Experience Design”.

Level of design

The design is quite simple. It certainly shows the formality of the subject and the document, but it can look a bit sloppy when it comes to displaying images.

In terms of text and font sizes, it is a very good design. Differentiating between the different sections is easy at a glance thanks to the separations. 

It could have been more pleasant if more images or graphics had been used to show the content quickly and visually.

Degree of innovation

The topic of tourism and gamification is quite common. Many designers are using these concepts as a way of addressing users. This may make the topic not very innovative, but it still has a lot to be explored and is seeing its peak with the emergence of COVID-19. Many tourism companies are considering gamification as a means of reaching the public again.

Independence

The project appears to have been carried out independently. It is true that it is done by a group of three people, but the analyses of each example and all the details of the project are their own conclusions.

Outline and structure

The presented structure is very well organised and gives you important data at a first glance thanks to the abstract divided into background, purpose, method and findings. With only one page it gives you a clear and straightforward summary. 

The organisation is progressive and takes you from theoretical beginnings to a practical end with many results. At no point is any content shown that has not been explained before, which makes the reading a very simple task. The authors follow the chosen study method throughout: Empathise, Define, Ideation & Prototyping and Testing & Iteration.

Degree of communication

Referring back to the previous point, it is very easy to read as the more complex terms are explained throughout. 

Moreover, as it is a project carried out by different authors from different disciplines, the content is very complete and the explanations are simplified as much as possible.

Scope of the work

It is a very comprehensive project with three authors coming from different fields. This ensures that the content covers everything that is needed. 

It may be a project that individually could be considered too much work, but as a team and with a good organisation, an exemplary result can be achieved.

Orthography and accuracy

Spelling is correct, and accuracy is exemplary. Information from different backgrounds is visible, making it a comprehensive work.

Literature

The document is correctly cited and has an extensive bibliography (more than four pages). It is true that at a quick glance it is difficult to see the points cited as there are no footnotes, but they still include a correct citation type.

Oftedal, R; Hasler, M; Listou, K. “Gamification in Tourism – A Design Thinking Approach to Memorable Experience Design.“ Master’s Thesis, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2021. https://bit.ly/3XMGNnB

by Hannah Nopp -

Kritische Bewertung einer Masterarbeit

Intro

Im Rahmen der Lehrveranstaltung “Proseminar Master’s Thesis” sollte eine Masterarbeit, welche a) zum eigenen Thema passt und b) an einer anderen Universität verfasst wurde, analysiert und bewertet werden. Da sich meine eigene Masterarbeit thematisch im Bereich User Interface & User Experience Design von Apps im Gesundheitssektor (konkret: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus [“Schwangerschaftsdiabetes”]) bewegen wird, habe ich meine Suche daran ausgerichtet. Nachdem meine Suche im OBV keine zufriedenstellenden Ergebnisse bot, wurde ich schließlich bei Google fündig.

Bewertete Masterarbeit:

Idsø, Nanfrid: Mobile Application to Improve Self-Management in Type 1 Diabetes. Ungedr. Diss. University of Bergen. Bergen 2021

Aufgerufen am 30.11.2022 unter: https://bora.uib.no/bora-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2762435/Master_Thesis_15_06_2021.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Gestaltungshöhe

Die Gestaltungshöhe ist meiner Meinung nach in Ordnung, aber etwas lieblos – Hat man keine hohen Ansprüche an Layout und Design, ist die einfache und sehr standardmäßige Gestaltung der Arbeit durchaus zufriedenstellend.

Für Überschriften und Fließtext wurde eine gut leserliche Serifenschrift verwendet, der Zeilenabstand ist jedoch relativ gering, wodurch die Leserlichkeit wiederum beeinträchtigt wird. Die Schriftgrößen sind in meinen Augen gut gewählt und auch das Seitenlayout wirkt dank relativ viel Weißraum nicht überladen. Auf andere Farben als Schwarz und Weiß wurde verzichtet.

Alles in allem also absolut solide. Als Studierende aus dem Kreativ- und Designbereich würde ich jedoch meinen: Da ist noch Luft nach oben.

Innovationsgrad

Den Innovationsgrad der Arbeit kann man sowohl aus thematischer, als auch aus umsetzungstechnischer Sicht bewerten.

Thematisch kann ich lediglich eine Laien-Schätzung abgeben: Da Smartphones und digitale Anwendungen immer stärker im Gesundheitsbereich Anwendung finden, bin ich der Meinung, dass die Arbeit grundsätzlich am Zahn der Zeit ist. Für eine konkrete Einschätzung habe ich (noch) zu wenig Hintergrundwissen zum wissenschaftlichen Stand von mobilen Anwendungen zur Unterstützung von Diabetes-Selbstmanagement. Jedoch gibt es bereits zig Anwendungen für Diabetes Typ 1 Patient*innen auf dem Markt, weshalb der thematische Innovationsgrad auf mich mäßig wirkt (6/10).

Aus Sicht der Umsetzung liegt meine Bewertung ebenfalls im mittelmäßigen Bereich. Der*Die Autor*in griff zu gängigen Methoden und Tools wie beispielsweise dem User-Centered-Design Prozess, Personas oder einem Cognitive Walkthrough. Dies ist nicht negativ gemeint, da gängige Methoden wie diese sich nicht umsonst bewährt haben und ich selbst plane, auf ähnliche Tools zurück zu greifen.

Selbstständigkeit

Der*Die Verfasser*in arbeitet in einem umfangreichen Theorieteil sowohl medizinische als auch projektrelevante Grundlagen auf. Daraus schließe ich, dass er*sie sich intensiv mit der Thematik auseinandergesetzt hat und eine gute Basis für eine selbstständige und fundierte Umsetzung des Praxisprojektes geschaffen hat. Dieses Praxisprojekt – ein Prototyp einer App – wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit einer Studienkollegin entwickelt und evaluiert, welche jedoch nicht (Co-)Autorin der Masterarbeit war, wie ich herausfand. In der Danksagung wird erwähnt, dass ebendiese Kollegin eine große Motivatorin und helfende Hand desder eigentlichen Verfassers*Verfasserin war. Daher gehe ich grundsätzlich von einer hohen Selbstständigkeit aus, frage mich aber, ob die Arbeitsleistung ohne fremde Hilfe hätte erbracht werden können.

Gliederung und Struktur

Die Gliederung der Arbeit finde ich sehr gut und logisch gelöst. Es sind alle “Standard-Kapitel” (z.B. Abstract, Abbildungsverzeichnis, Tabellenverzeichnis, Quellenverzeichnis, etc.) vorhanden und auch sonst wurde ein klarer Faden durchgezogen. Nach der Einführung kommen Theorie, Literaturanalyse und Methodik, gefolgt von der praktischen Umsetzung des Projektes und der abschließenden Diskussion. Alle Kapitel sind nummeriert und es gibt drei Hierarchie-Ebenen – nicht zu viel und nicht zu wenig, wie ich finde.

Kommunikationsgrad

Die Arbeit wurde an einer norwegischen Universität verfasst, in englischer Sprache. Der Text liest sich flüssig und ist mit einem B2 (oder höher) Sprachniveau sehr gut verständlich. Informelle Ausdrücke wie “I” oder “my” kommen äußerst selten vor. Viel eher wird das Passiv verwendet, was dem formellen, wissenschaftlichen Stil einer Masterarbeit viel mehr entspricht.

Umfang der Arbeit

Insgesamt umfasst die Arbeit 109 Seiten, davon bilden 76 Seiten den Kern. Die einzelnen Kapitel sind – die Seitenanzahl betreffend – untereinander einigermaßen ausgewogen. Damit liegt der Umfang meiner Meinung nach im Normalbereich und ist bei einem Standard-Layout mit geschätzten 12pt. Schriftgröße gut getroffen.

Orthographie sowie Sorgfalt und Genauigkeit

An manchen Stellen wird im Text deutlich, dass es sich bei dem*der Verfasser*in vermutlich nicht um eine*n Native Speaker handelt, jedoch konnten beim Überfliegen der Thesis keine groben Fehler in Rechtschreibung oder Grammatik festgestellt werden.

Im Bezug auf Genauigkeit und Sorgfalt ließ sich eine durchdachte und sorgfältige Arbeitsweise feststellen. Da und dort gibt es kleine Abstriche, wenn beispielsweise eine Konkurrenzanalyse lediglich aus sechs Bulletpoints und wenigen Stichworten besteht. Dies macht es für den*die Leser*in schwer, die Schlussfolgerungen des*der Autors*Autorin nachvollziehen zu können. Zudem werden manche Begrifflichkeiten, Methoden oder Modelle nur kurz erklärt, wobei es oftmals etwas mehr Tiefgang benötigt hätte. Trotzdem erhält man als Leser*in relevante Inhalte in angemessener Dosis. Dies mag eventuell an der englischen Sprache liegen, da es dabei oft weniger Worte bedarf als im Deutschen.

Literatur

Der*Die Verfasser*in gab 41 Quellen in seiner*ihrer Arbeit an. Das kommt mir für eine Arbeit im Umfang von 76 Seiten etwas gering vor. Wenn man jedoch bedenkt, dass ein großer Teil davon dem selbst entwickelten Projekt gewidmet ist, ist es wiederum nachvollziehbar. Auffällig ist, dass viele Internetquellen verwendet wurden, was als zweifelhaft bewertet werden kann. Bezüglich der Zitierweise lassen das Quellenverzeichnis und die Angaben im Text auf IEEE schließen.